Earlier quoted context omitted.
I never walk out in front of cars until I have made sure they see me. You never know what's going on with that driver.
> I never walk out in front of cars until I have made sure they see me. Optimist! ;)
Safety benefits of roundabouts
281–290 of 409 posts
Re: Safety benefits of roundabouts
#282Ctrl+f "pedestrian" Only one result and it's not even about roundabouts. This is how American traffic engineering is done.
Is your argument that roundabouts are bad for pedestrians? If so why?
Re: Safety benefits of roundabouts
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
All the different rules for roundabout are fun. In the UK you’re expected to filter to the outside leave. In Iceland the person on the inside has priority to leave so you can still enter the roundabout but need to watch for someone already on the inside wanting to leave at your first exit. The rules are similar to the Netherlands in that you either go straight or 3rd exit from the inside and should only go first exit…
> “In the UK you’re expected to filter to the outside leave.” In practice, large multi-lane roundabouts in the UK usually have lane markings as you enter, with specific lanes for each exit. In general, so long as you were in the correct lane as you entered the roundabout, the lane markings should guide you to the correct exit and you shouldn’t have to do any filtering.
The problem seems to be that a lane that goes to two places is sometimes marked inconsistently with each of the two places - meaning you think you are in the wrong lane, when you are not.
Re: Safety benefits of roundabouts
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
All the different rules for roundabout are fun. In the UK you’re expected to filter to the outside leave. In Iceland the person on the inside has priority to leave so you can still enter the roundabout but need to watch for someone already on the inside wanting to leave at your first exit. The rules are similar to the Netherlands in that you either go straight or 3rd exit from the inside and should only go first exit…
> “In the UK you’re expected to filter to the outside leave.” In practice, large multi-lane roundabouts in the UK usually have lane markings as you enter, with specific lanes for each exit. In general, so long as you were in the correct lane as you entered the roundabout, the lane markings should guide you to the correct exit and you shouldn’t have to do any filtering.
Re: Safety benefits of roundabouts
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
Careful with terminology too, because "inside" and "outside" don't mean the same thing to different drivers, particularly in the UK compared to elsewhere. Many people hear "inside lane" on a motorway and think it's the "fast lane" near the central divider but that's actually the "outside lane". ( source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/outside-... ). But that terminology has been confused over tim…
Do you know the origin of the UK use because that always confused me as it’s obviously wrong from the drivers perspective of the road! My wild guess would be that from the drivers seat you look outside to the fast lane and look across the inside of the car to look to the slow lanes.
Re: Safety benefits of roundabouts
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But NL is also a huge bike country. And at most roundabouts, bikes have right of way. The fact that it's on a case-by-case basis an not actually a consistent traffic law is really awful. To add insult to injury, the only signage is usually a yield sign painted on the road that is invisible as soon as it's dark and the road is wet. And this is of course further combined with the absolute scandalous amount of cyclist…
It's supposed to be consistent: within built-up areas ("bebouwde kom") bicycles have priority, outside of those areas they don't have priority.
The confusion can arise inside built-up areas where there's a separate bicycle path, usually close to the car lanes.
Re: Safety benefits of roundabouts
#287Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The lack of lights and increase in number of crossings (for non-tiny ones) make them pretty terrible to cross as a pedestrian. This can surely be remedied by having the crossings being raised, acting as speed bumps for the cars and providing a better crossing experience for the pedestrian (or cyclist). I'm not entirely convinced that the lack of lights would inherently mean that roundabouts are less safe for pedestr…
Here in the UK, any difficult-to-cross junction will have a roundabout, simply because our road designers love roundabouts. And for large/busy roundabouts, cars will be in constant motion meaning there won't be gaps in the traffic flow for pedestrians to cross. If you try to cross [1] on foot at a busy period, it's not a particularly fun experience. Of course, I'm not sure any road layout could make such a junction e…
This particular roundabout has a signalled pedestrian crossing on the southern side. Cars will get a red light (and pedestrians a “green man”) allowing them to cross safely.
But you’re right that there are too many UK A-roads and roundabouts that are a nightmare for pedestrians, lacking safe crossing.
Re: Safety benefits of roundabouts
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
The lack of lights and increase in number of crossings (for non-tiny ones) make them pretty terrible to cross as a pedestrian.
(Warning: Anecdata) There was a multi-lane roundabout near me with traffic signals and pedestrian crossing signals and all. It was an absolute nightmare to drive through, bike through, or cross on foot. Cars pressured one another to drive aggressively, pedestrians had to wait for walk signals, cars got confused and blew through the crosswalks by accident even when pedestrians had walk signals, bikes were an afterthou…
Re: Safety benefits of roundabouts
#289Ctrl+f "pedestrian" Only one result and it's not even about roundabouts. This is how American traffic engineering is done.
Is your argument that roundabouts are bad for pedestrians? If so why?
For on near us it’s even worse as even though there’s an island to aid crossing the road signs are place in position that limits pedestrians view of the traffic leaving the roundabout
Fortunately they built a light controlled crossing a 100m further on
Re: Safety benefits of roundabouts
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
Careful with terminology too, because "inside" and "outside" don't mean the same thing to different drivers, particularly in the UK compared to elsewhere. Many people hear "inside lane" on a motorway and think it's the "fast lane" near the central divider but that's actually the "outside lane". ( source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/outside-... ). But that terminology has been confused over tim…
Do you know the origin of the UK use because that always confused me as it’s obviously wrong from the drivers perspective of the road! My wild guess would be that from the drivers seat you look outside to the fast lane and look across the inside of the car to look to the slow lanes.